New Details Revealed For MTG and DnD Crossover Battle For Baldur's Gate

Wizards of the Coast have revealed new details for their upcoming Commander Legends set, Battle For Baldur's Gate


Published: May 17, 2022 4:02 PM /

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Fans of tabletop gaming have had plenty to enjoy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast. Classic settings from Dungeons and Dragons are returning for fifth edition. Magic: The Gathering has continued its ongoing support with the release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty with more on the way. In fact, both of these series have crossed over with one another with the likes of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. Now, Wizards of the Coast have released new details about their second Commander Legends set, which will be another D&D crossover: Battle For Baldur's Gate.

The new information for Battle For Baldur's Gate comes from a news post on the official Magic website. In an overview post, Magic's Lead Designer, Mark Rosewater, talked about why the team decided to return to Dungeons & Dragons for their second Commander Legends set. For those not aware, Commander Legends is a draftable version of the highly popular Commander play format. Each booster pack has 20 cards and you select two cards from the pack to add to your 100 card deck. Rosewater even openly discusses that this kind of format presented a lot of creative challenges such as keeping cards as varied as possible, and allowing players to always have tactical options regardless of what colors their Commander card have.

Artwork for the card Noble Heritage
Image Credit: Wizards of the Coast

What New Mechanics Are in Battle For Baldur's Gate?

Because of these creative challenges, Backgrounds are being added to this set. According to Rosewater, Backgrounds are new legendary enchantments that enhance your Commander, giving them an extra ability. All monocolor Legendary Creatures in Battle For Baldur's Gate can partner with a Background, allowing more dynamic play in multiplayer matches.

Second is the introduction of Initiative. When Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was introduced, players had a new keyword action called "venture into the dungeon" which allowed them to enter one of three dungeons. Battle For Baldur's Gate will take this mechanic one step further with Initiative which will allow you to further explore a dungeon. If you aren't in a dungeon however, you will "explore the Undercity." This is essentially this new set's version of Monarch but with a D&D spin.

What New Foils Are In Battle For Baldur's Gate?

Out of 361 new cards in Battle For Baldur's Gate, all 82 of its legendary cards will be available in a foil-etched version. This is the card in its original artwork but with a foil-etched frame.  Every Collector Booster will contain two foil-etched legends: one common or uncommon and one rare or mythic rare. Every Set Booster will contain a foil-etched legend. Draft Boosters will contain no foil-etched legends. These legends will include characters like Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion or even the titular Baldur's Gate itself.

Foil etched card art for Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion
Image Credit: Wizards of the Coast

In addition, Battle For Baldur's Gate will contain three borderless planeswalker cards, which include the wizard Elminster. Furthermore, there will be borderless art cards of mythic dragons as well as several other mythic rare cards. All of these borderless art cards can be found in Set, Draft, and Collector boosters in both foil and non-foil versions.

Rulebook artwork for several cards found in Battle For Baldur's Gate
Image Credit: Wizards of the Coast

Finally, the Rulebook artstyle introduced in Adventures in The Forgotten Realms will be returning in this set. You can get Rulebook art cards in Set, Draft, and Collector Boosters, both in traditional foil and non-foil.

When is the Battle For Baldur's Gate Release Date?

Battle For Baldur's Gate will have a prerelease on June 3. Each prerelease pack will include three Draft boosters, a traditional foil rare or mythic rare from the set with a foil stamp, a d20, a reusable deck box, and a digital code for Magic The Gathering Arena. The official release date is June 10.

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Ever since he was small, Tyler Chancey has had a deep, abiding love for video games and a tendency to think and overanalyze everything he enjoyed. This… More about Tyler